


The Lost Amazon

by CaptainValkyrie



Category: DCU (Comics), Wonder Woman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-25
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2017-12-30 10:11:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainValkyrie/pseuds/CaptainValkyrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a story told about a character I invented myself who interacts with Wonder Woman. The first three chapters I wrote for a porject for a class so I had to keep it PG-13, but everything else after that will be unfettered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Homeless

_My name is Vara Gnosis, and I don’t know who I am. I know I’m different, and I will find the truth. I will write my story in this journal, and hopefully by the end of this book I will have discovered all I need to know._

 

  
The Sun rays filtering through the grimy window slid across my eyes. Taking a deep breath of air clogged with the stench of the warehouse I slowly opened them, holding on to the peace of the darkness; the sound of the bay lapping at the dock just outside a gentle drumming rhythm heralded new and old problems. My stomach rumbled its usual morning rant as I stood and stretched. Dismantling my nest was simple matter of taking down the tarp and rolling it around my sleeping bag. Attaching the bundle to the top of my rucksack I paused to take one last look around the spot between the crates, I didn’t want to forget anything.  
The next patrol was due any minute so I left through the back, easing my way between piles of rusted junk and slipping quietly out into the narrow alley on the other side of the building, and ran right into a gang-banger for the Midtown Rabid Dogs. He was dealing to a kid, maybe fourteen, and he just looked at me like I was a hooker fresh off the corner. Just then, right on schedule, a pair of cops walked around the corner of the warehouse.  
“HEY STOP, POLICE!” They shouted, I ran. If they caught me I was dead. Being caught meant being sent back. Back to a father who beat me for breathing and had other means of punishment for everything else; back to a shack in the foothills of the Siskiyou Mountains. Locked up like a dog in a cage. I looked back; one was chasing me and the other the dealer. I looked back in time to see a wood fence blocking the alley. Praying, to who I don’t know, I jumped and grabbed the top of the fence. I threw my body into a back-flip and somersaulted over to land on my feet. I dashed down the other side of the alley and out into the street, turned left and went down the stairs into the subway. I jumped the toll station; homeless means broke, and made it into a train heading downtown. Leaving the industrial section, I slumped against the grab bar and closed my eyes.  
\----------------------Six Years Ago----------------------------  
WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! The strap bit into my backside.  
“Are you going to try that again Vara?”  
“No Dad, please stop. I won’t run no more.” I cried.  
WHAP!WHAP!WHAP!  
Hours later in the darkness my drying tears making my shirt stiff, I huddled in the cell that was the only thing I ever knew, ankle manacle chaffing. Voices drifted through the air vent.  
“I can’t keep the brat forever. They’ll find her and I’ll be as good as dead.” Said my father.

“Just a little longer, we need to lure the Princess into the trap; after that we’ll be by to take her.” The other voice replied.  
"It's been six months, and the brat has escaped twice already. The kid is inventive."  
"Soon she will be one of us and Wonder Woman will be dead. The city and then the world will be ours, and not even the gods can stop us!"

\------------------------Present Day------------------------------  
The train lurched to a stop and I opened my eyes, the scroll sign above the door read financial district. I readjusted my gear and walked out of the train, wary of the lack of cops. I let the crowd swell around me as I made my way to street level.  
The Sun had peaked over the skyscrapers and the bustle of the sidewalk was in full swing when I surfaced. My stomach rumbled again and I scanned for other street-people. Seeing none I staked out the entrance to an alley that I had used a couple of days ago, grabbed a piece of cardboard out of the dumpster and wrote: Hungry, please help on it. Sitting down just inside the alley, so I wouldn’t get stepped on and could run if needed, I dug a cracked-plastic red bowl and placed it in front of me.  
Most people just walk by and throw whatever change is in their pockets, but today a woman in a suit stopped in front of me. She pulled a piece of paper out of her brief case and put it on the bowl.  
“When you’re ready for a job,” she said. I took the application and nodded, and she walked on. I sat there for another few hours and raked in about twenty bucks. I was picking up my stuff, and was about to go get a sandwich, when a rumbling began. The ground began to heave and buck. People froze at first and then a woman screamed and everyone began to run. As I stood there, unsure what to do, I heard crying. I looked over and saw a small child standing next to a woman lying on the ground half buried under a pile of bricks. I ran over and checked her pulse. At first I couldn’t feel anything, but then I felt it.  
“Hang on kid, I’m gonna get your mom out of here.” I began shifting the rubble. The ground began to buck and shake again so I grabbed the boy, pulled him under me as I leaned over his mother. More bricks and debris fell. When the ground finished shaking I let him up and went back to freeing the woman. As I cleared the last of the bricks, another aftershock began. A woman, wearing red, white, and blue, came down from the sky and lifted the boy, his mother, and myself and then the ground was gone from under my feet; the buildings and people getting smaller, harder to see through the smoke and dust.


	2. For the World was Hollow...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I changed a lot of things since chapter 1 and if you already haven't go back and read it before you read this installment! 
> 
> Thanks for reading this, and once again this is for a class so I'm keeping it PG13.

_I have often wondered about whether there are beings greater than man, and why people who insist there are insist that these beings must police humanity. Humans do not go around policing the world of animals, so why should we expect these things from something more evolved than us?_

            The stranger carried us to the nearest hospital and left as EMTs ran out with stretchers.  I tried to walk away, but the kid was scared and held onto me with a death grip.  A man in scrubs started asking me questions.

            “What’s your name? Are you related to him? What is his name? What about the woman?”

            “I don’t know. I stopped to help, that’s all. Can I go?”

            “I’m afraid not. We have to get you checked out, and take care of the boy and the woman. Is there anything you can tell us about them?”

            “No, not really. I was across the street when the earthquake started and I noticed them when I heard the boy crying. She was buried under a pile of bricks. I dug her out, that weird lady came and carried us here.”

            “That was Wonder Woman. She and the rest of the Justice League are here helping the citizens. What is your name?”

            “What’s the Justice League? How come she can fly?”

            “She’s an Amazon, and the Justice League is a group of heroes who work together to defend the world. Now, what is your name?”

            “Um, Vara.” I looked down at the boy, still wrapped around my thigh. I was starting to feel rather weak.

            “Vara what?” The world started going dim. Then I had the strangest sensation of falling, before everything went black.

\--------------------------Five Years Ago-------------------------

            I waited until the house above me was quiet. I had heard Father talking on the phone, we were moving in the morning. I slipped the nail from the foot of my bed, I had been working it free for a week, and began picking the lock of the manacle around my ankle. When it clicked open I paused, listening, and then got up. Gathering what few belongings I had in my blanket and went to the narrow window. I had been working on chiseling the mortar around the window for months, carefully spreading the dust out across the gray floor, and now the window frame was loose enough to pull out of the wall. I set the window on the ground and, pushing my bundle out in front of me, crawled out the hole.

            The cabin was surrounded by forest and a stream, I had seen from the window, that was all shadow on account of the new moon. With my stuff slung across my back, I picked my way to the stream. The water came up to my knees, my bare feet freezing, as I started up stream.

            I walked past dawn, exiting the stream on the opposite side I’d started on and began walking into the Sun.

\-------------------------------Present Day------------------------

            I opened my eyes to ceiling tiles and the sharp tang of a sanitary room. I looked around, noticed my clothes were gone, and that there was a small figure on the couch.

            “Hey kid, what are you doing here?” I said.

            “Momma’s dead. My name is not kid.”

            “Well, what are you doing here?”

            “I told ‘em you’re my sister.”

            “Why?”

            “I’m all alone now. Dad died in the war, I don’t want to go to the orphanage.”

            “What’s your name kid? How old are you?”

            “Henry, I’m nine.”

            “Well-” At that Wonder Woman, a doctor, and a man in a suit walked in. The doctor began taking my vitals.

            “Why are you here?” I asked. The man in the suit replied first.

            “I’m Tom Crawley, from Family Services, here to investigate as to whether this boy’s claim that you two are related is true or not.”

            “I am here to find out why there is an Amazon in Gateway City, one who didn’t come from Themyscira.”

            “Wait a minute, I’m an Amazon?”

            “You didn’t know?” She replied.

            “No, I don’t remember my Mother. My Father raised me on his own since I was two.” 

            “How old are you now?”

            “I don’t know. I haven’t really been around a calendar. Eighteen, nineteen?”

            “I will be taking you to Themyscira so that the Queen can decide your fate.”

            “Um, it’s my fate as an American I can do with it as I please, and I’m not leaving Henry.”

            “You aren’t an American. You’re an Amazon, and you can’t take the boy with you. Males are forbidden on Themyscira, and he is not your concern. Mr. Crawley here will take charge of him.”

            “I was not raised by Amazons. I was here, in this land called America. I lived in a cabin in the mountains and walked here. I am not an Amazon.”

            “Your DNA says different,” said the Doctor, speaking for the first time since he entered the room. “Because you are not human, at least not completely, and you don’t have any paperwork that says otherwise. Wonder Woman agreed that since you are an Amazon you should fall under their law. Henry is human, so he will be taken care of by the Government. There is nothing I can do about this.” He removed the monitors and the IV. “You are completely healed, and can go. The nurse put your clothes in that cupboard and your discharge papers have been filed.”  

            “So much for the home of the free,” I said. I turned to Wonder Woman and said, “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll come with you to this Themyscira of my own free will, if I can bring Henry. I won’t go quietly without him.”

            “You are in no position to make deals.”

            “You don’t know me, and I can make your life a living hell if I want to, or you can take the deal.” She looked at Crawley, he hesitated before replying.

            “If she is his only living relative, and of age, then she can be his guardian. But she must be able to provide for him.”

            “I can do it.”

            “Very well, if you will come to Themyscira and submit to the will of the Queen, you may bring him along. But you are responsible for him,” said Wonder Woman. I looked over at Henry, he nodded, and I turned back to her.

            “Agreed.”


	3. The Ocean is a Law Unto Itself

_Are those we worship as heroes truly that? Who are this Wonder Woman, and her Amazon Queen? I fear not for myself, but for the boy. I should never have agreed to take him in, but I cannot in good conscience leave him to a soulless bureaucracy.   I sense she knows the truth I seek, but can I trust her?_

            After I made the deal with Wonder Woman, and dressed, we went to the elevator. Instead of pushing the down button she pushed the up, and when we got in pressed the button for the roof.

            “I thought we were going to this Themyscira?” I looked at her, my right eyebrow raised.

            “We are,” she replied, “we will be taking my jet.”

            “Right, of course.” I looked at Henry, silently pleading for him to change his mind. He just stared back at me, and then took my hand in his. “I thought you said men were forbidden, what about Henry?”

            “The boy is to stay on the plane while we are there. He is not to show himself, and if he does as he is told they will never know of his presence.”

            “I see.” At that moment we arrived at the top of the hospital. I didn’t see anything. “Um, have you sustained a head injury? There’s nothing here.”

            “The jet is invisible.” She grabbed my other hand and lead us toward the landing pad. My feet hit something metal and we began to rise off the roof. The inside was a small labyrinth of equipment. She let go of my hand and gestured to a pair of seats with restraints. “Situate yourselves, and buckle up tight.”

            “Wonder Woman-”

            “My name is Diana Prince, you can call me Diana.”

            “Diana, why are you doing this? I’m just a nobody from the backwoods of Northern California.”

            “Because you are an Amazon, and there are so few of us that there are no ‘nobodies’ in our society. Now help him with the straps and then take care of yourself, it’s going to be quite a ride.” With that she left to go to the cockpit and I busied myself, first buckling Henry in and then myself.

\-------------------Five Years Ago-----------------------

            I walked into the setting Sun in the same manner that I had walked into it for the past couple of weeks, starving and cold; as part of my plan to throw off any pursuer I had first headed into the rising Sun before doubling back, crossing the stream at a different place than before and heading in the opposite direction. My determination to escape was the only thing keeping me going, that and the handful of blueberries I had picked off some bushes yesterday. The ground had been sloping gently downward for a while now and the air had a strange tang to it. Suddenly there was no more ground, or at least not at the same level as what I was standing on. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Water, dark blue, stretching further than the eye could see. In all my few years I had never imagined the possibility of that much water in one place. Strange white birds screeched overhead, and below was rock and sand. I looked to my left and saw a small house tucked in amongst the trees and rolling land. Hiding behind trees and boulders I made my way to the dwelling with caution. There was a thin line of smoke coming from the chimney, but no other signs of inhabitants.

\-----------------Present Day----------------------

            Diana had been right about the strenuous journey that was a flight in her jet. We had landed a few hours ago and, at first, the jet was greeted by a great many smiling faces and grand trumpet calls. Then the crowd saw me in all my grungy glory, and I’m sure that had I not been with one of their beloved numbers I would have been ripped to shreds before one could even say hello. A woman, tall, blonde, and oozing quiet power, stepped forward.

            “It is good to see you again my daughter, but why have you brought an outsider to our island?” the woman asked.

            “My Queen and Mother, I bring an Amazon who knows nothing of her heritage, so that you may judge what her path is to be.” Diana answered.

            “What are you called outsider?” said the Queen, turning her piercing gaze to me.

            “I’m Vara, Vara Gnosis.”

            “Before anything else you shall be bathed and properly clothed. I’ll not pass any sort of decision on a vagabond.” The Queen turned to a young girl next to her. “See that Vara Gnosis is clean and properly attired, and then have quarters prepared and a meal ready; I will see her in the throne room tomorrow.” Beckoning to Diana, the Queen departed. Diana didn’t even look at me before heading off after her mother. I stood there for a moment until the servant came and, taking me by the hand, lead me to a house on the side of a hill. Inside I saw that it was just a passage to a large pool fed by a waterfall which, because it was so late at night, was empty. I saw that I was to undress and bathe here, finding a stack of towels and some soap on a bench I got down to it. The girl disappeared for a while and then came back with some clothes. My own clothes were gone so I dried off and took the foreign garments. After I was done I stood in front of a mirror and saw myself for the first time in years; I saw a tall, tan, blue-eyed stranger staring back. My golden brown hair that I had cut myself hung in a shaggy mane stopping just below my earlobes, framed a face that had lost any adolescent softness long ago. The knee-length white tunic and brown leather belt made me look like some character from history. I turned to the servant weary to show any sign of weakness, only to have her beaming at me.

            “What?” I asked.

            “You are the spitting image of her.”

            “Who?”

            “Althea, a great warrior who gained much glory in battle; but come, you must be rested for your audience tomorrow.” She handed me a pair of leather sandals, the kind with straps up to the knee, and I sat down to put on my first pair of shoes. We left the bath house and walked to a huge building that must have been the palace. She showed me to a beautiful room with an attached restroom and a meal waiting on a table, then left saying that if there was anything I desired I simply had to ring the bell pull by the door and she would come.

            I sat and ate some of the strange foods, careful to save some for Henry, then stretching on the luxurious bed promptly fell asleep.

\------------------Five Years Ago------------------

            The backdoor to the white-washed bungalow was unlocked as I slipped in using the cover of darkness. I had waited behind some bushes for several hours to make sure that all the lights were off. The door let me straight into the kitchen and I immediately went to the open pantry on the opposite wall. I started taking cans and putting them in my blanket bundle, when the lights popped on and the door was slammed shut.

            “Keep your hands where I can see them and turn around slowly,” said a gravelly voice. I did ask was asked and saw an older man with close-cropped gray hair, dressed in a pair of pants and an untucked shirt, pointing something at me. The object was about two feet long and was made of what appeared to be two different materials, a gun. I hadn’t seen one before, yet that was the word that popped in my mind.

            “Please sir, I mean no harm.”

            “No harm eh? Taking food that don’t belong to you, what’s next moving in here and taking the rest of what’s mine?”

            “No sir, it’s just that I’ve come a long ways and I got a ways to go yet.”

            “Long way, from where? You don’t look much more than a scrap of a girl. Don’t you got folks to look after you? How old are you anyway?”

            “No. I’m on my own. Fourteen I think.” At that point my stomach growled fiercely and the man lowered the gun.

            “Well, I might have some spare clothes. My kids are all grown; they won’t need ‘em. Go on down the hallway, second door on the left there’s a guest room, clothes are in the closet. Bathroom’s at the end of the hall.” I nodded my thanks and made my way to the indicated room. I found some heavy blue jeans and a flannel shirt that looked like they might fit. In the bathroom I avoided the mirror while I showered and dressed. Back in the kitchen the man had been busy, cooking up bacon and eggs. There was a large canvas bag backpack on the table.

            “Come eat, then go grab some more of those clothes. Be sure to get different sizes, kids your age grow quick.”

            I sat and he put a plate in front of me with eggs, bacon, and toast. I saw that in the bag was a bunch of can and boxed food, along with a couple of canteens, a first aid kit, and a poncho. I wolfed down the food and drank the entire glass of milk that he placed in front of me.

            “You don’t have to move on tonight. If you like you can stay a couple of days, recoup.”

            “Why are you helping me?” I asked.

            “I told you, my kids are grown. Besides you should have someone looking after you.”

\------------Present Day-----------------

             I woke a couple of hours later to a quiet palace. Taking the food I’d saved and a couple of blankets, though the kid probably wouldn’t need them as the climate was as hot and sticky as it had been before the Sun had gone down. I slipped out of my room and, sneaking as carefully as possible, made my way to the plane. Henry greeted me with a hug once I’d gotten inside.

            “Here you go kid. Try to make this stuff last until tomorrow night; I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it back before then.”

            “It’s ok; the other lady left me with some stuff. I’m glad you came though.”

             “We need to know more about each other, or at least have a story as to why we don’t. Maybe since I could have been adopted before your parents met. It’s a common enough tale. What was your father’s name?”

            “Michael.” We stayed there that night, talking until Henry fell asleep. I folded up the blankets into a pallet for him and laid him on it. Then I walked back to my room and fell asleep on the bed.

A pounding on the door brought me back to consciousness, a woman in armor entered.

            “You are to dress and come with me to your audience with Her Majesty, Queen Hippolyta.” I hurried to do as she said, and then we were off. The throne room was huge, with a vaulted ceiling supported by columns. The Queen was already present, sitting on her throne, Diana was next to her. I stopped before them not sure what to do.

            “I have done some thinking, but before I state what I have decided you will tell me what you know of your own story.”

            “I was raised from the age of two by a man, who said he was my father but was I don't think he is, in a cabin in the mountains of Northwest California. He kept me chained up in a room until I escaped five years ago and walked to the coast. From there I made my way South to Gateway City on foot. I’ve lived there among the other homeless for a while now.”

            “Who was this man? What of your mother?”

            “I don't know what happened to my mother or who the man is, only that he was working for someone. I overheard them talking about a plan to kill a princess, to use me as bait, and as for before I woke up in that room I don't remember”

            “How long did you live in that room?”

            “I’m not sure, eight maybe nine years?”

“This concurs with what I know then. Your Mother was Althea; she went to the human world twelve years ago and fell in love with a mortal man. She was on her way back about nine years ago, bringing her child with her to be trained in the ways of an Amazon, when she and the girl vanished.”

            “I guess he was right when he said that my mother was dead. What will happen to me now?”

            “You are too old to begin the training to be a warrior. You could always teach the children about the world of man…”

            “What if I want to go back to California?”

            “What would you do there?”

            “I don’t know, live. Get on with my life?”

            “You could create a life here, and we have medicines that might bring back your memories.”

            “Not without my brother. I won’t leave him all alone like I was.”

            “Brother?”

            “Half-brother, I just found him a couple of days ago. His mother was killed in the Earthquake.”

            “I see.” The Queen stared at me for a moment. “Very well I have decided that first you will be examined by the physician to see if your memories might be recovered. Then we will talk again.” 

 

            The guard guided me away to the infirmary and left me sitting on a table in a well lit room. 


End file.
